Hsia DynastyPinyin Xia(22nd–19th/18th century BC; traditional dates c. 2205–c. 1766 Xia dynastyWade-Giles romanization Hsia(c. 2070–c. 1600 BC), early Chinese dynasty , mentioned in legendsbut of undetermined historicity. According to legend, the founder was YüYu, who was credited with having engineered the draining of the waters of a great flood (and who was later identified as a deified lord of the harvest). Yü Yu allegedly made the rulership hereditary in his family, thereby founding the first (legendary) imperial dynasty in China. Tradition gives the names of the dynasty’s successive 16 rulers, ending with ChiehJie, who is said to have fallen in love with a beautiful but evil woman, who acted cruelly. Outraged, the people, so the story goes, rose in rebellion, led by T’angZi Lü, who tradition says founded the Shang (or Yin) dynastydynasty and is known as the Tang emperor.